FEATURED Xbox One Media Remote

OneGuide button provides one-touch, quick access to all of your favorites in one place

Control video playback for Blu-ray movies and streaming video on Xbox One

Up to 30 foot range (straight line from console)

Infrared (IR) transmitter and motion-activated backlit buttons

Your favorite entertainment is at your fingertips with the Xbox One Media Remote . It puts you in control of Blu-ray movies, streaming video and apps and works with Kinect. to control power and volume on your TV or receiver. Featuring backlit buttons that light up automatically and direct access to the OneGuide, this simple, powerful remote is designed to help you watch and switch instantly.

I’ll start by saying I really like this remote. It feels sturdy and is good of quality as you can expect from something primarily made of plastic. It does the job, and works great. I even like that it is smaller and simpler than my older Xbox 360 and PS3 remotes. I only wish they hadn’t downsized it SO much.

I actually haven’t missed the number buttons my 360 & PS3 remotes have. I never realized how little I used them until they were gone and it didn’t affect me much. They are mostly just used for chapter selection in a DVD, where I usually just use the next/previous chapter buttons for anyway. The backlit keys are a nice feature that my black 360 remote doesn’t have (though my old white one does). There are times when I wish some of the old functionality was here. I also liked the A,B,X,Y buttons so I could navigate through any DVD or game menus the same way as a normal controller without needing to figure out which buttons mapped to what functions. I liked my black Xbox 360 remote’s separate power buttons for both the TV and Xbox. And call me crazy, but I also liked having an eject button. I suppose that one makes more sense to remove with a slot-loading drive though.

The button style is closer to the newest black Xbox 360 remote design, where they are hard and clicky instead of the older white Xbox 360 remote design that had soft, subtle buttons. I don’t really have a preference as far as hard/soft buttons go, just pointing it out.

Probably the biggest con though, is shared between this one as well as all versions of the Xbox 360 one: infrared. My PS3 controller uses Bluetooth, so it works from anywhere in my house regardless of line-of-sight with the IR receiver. This Xbox One remote, like all the Xbox 360 remotes, require a line-of-sight with your IR receiver (Kinect), so it’s not as reliable. The small upside of this is longer battery life, but I’d trade that for Bluetooth given the choice.

So overall, it certainly gets the job done, but isn’t perfect. I also am not thrilled about how much higher the Xbox One accessories are priced at. This remote is tiny and plastic, but has a much higher MSRP than the more feature-filled Xbox 360 and PS3 remotes. Price of early adoption I suppose. Negatives aside, I don’t regret buying it and I’m sure I will get plenty of use out of it.